


Present Friends

by BlessedAreTheFandoms



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Catching Up, Community: Sid City Social Club, Family Dynamics, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Healing, Hope, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Old Friends, Parenthood, Post-Canon, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28484439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlessedAreTheFandoms/pseuds/BlessedAreTheFandoms
Summary: Due to some kind of spatial computer glitch, Julian Bashir gets a chance to greet his old friend Jadzia and tell her a little of what the universe has become since her death.  She has a few things to say about what the universe has always been.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Jadzia Dax, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52
Collections: Sid City Social Club Script Collection





	Present Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 2021! This may not be the right fic to set the tone for the new year, or it may be exactly correct, but either way I saw that I'd never posted it. It's still the Christmas season for me, so happy holidays. (Don't worry, I go back to work tomorrow and will stop inundating you with so many stories.)
> 
> A colleague of mine died right around the time of the one-year anniversary of Aron Eisenberg's death and I needed to do something with that in my own mind, so here we have some working through grief via one of the best friend-pairings on DS9. It's in script format because I was listening to a lot of the Sid City Social Club conversations at the time.

INT. JULIAN’S HOME OFFICE: LATE MORNING 

An older JULIAN BASHIR is tapping through various files on his computer, muttering to himself about the record he’s looking for. After a moment, JADZIA appears, completely still like a photograph. This startles BASHIR, who jumps. 

BASHIR

Jadzia? _[peers at the screen_ _information]_ I must have accessed your personnel file—but hang on, how did I get there? Why would that be in the ambassador database? 

_[Y_ _ells offscreen_ _]_

Garak? Garak, did you— 

_[T_ _urns back to screen]_

Oh, never mind. He probably wouldn’t give me a straight answer on whether this is his file, anyway. Overgrown lizard. 

_[P_ _onders the image for a moment]_

By God, I do miss you, Jadzia. 

_[L_ _eans in, noticing something is off]_

But wait. This can’t be right. You didn’t have grey in your hair. 

JADZIA 

Neither did you, but you also have quite the impressive beard now. 

BASHIR 

_[quite startled]_

Jadzia?! 

JADZIA 

_[fondly]_

Hello, Julian. 

BASHIR 

Jadzia, are you—are you real? I mean, is this real? 

JADZIA 

Oh, Julian. Surely you know better than to think about the universe as anything binary like real/imagined anymore. 

BASHIR 

Fair point. But…you’re here. 

JADZIA 

It would seem so. 

BASHIR 

But you’re also—I mean, I—I transferred Dax. 

JADZIA 

Thank you for that. You always did take good care of Dax. And me. 

BASHIR 

I _am_ a doctor. 

JADZIA 

And a friend. 

BASHIR 

_[slightly embarrassed]_

So, how? How are you here? 

JADZIA 

Your guess is as good as mine. Were you looking for me? 

BASHIR 

Well, no. I was—that is—I was actually—this might be easier if I knew what you know. I don’t know how you’re here, but do you know when “here” is? Or any of what’s going on in the universe? 

JADZIA 

If you’re asking do I know what’s going on with you or why you have a beard and it’s gone almost white, no. Though the beard looks good on you. Very distinguished. 

BASHIR 

Ah, thanks. Well, so, then you wouldn’t—well, Elim, I mean, Garak, is the Cardassian ambassador to the Federation now. I was looking for some files about a presentation he’s doing soon on post-war child development—we won the war, by the way, but at the expense of hundreds of millions of Cardassian lives, and he’s doing this presentation on the effect of Federation involvement in Cardassian pediatric health. He told me I should present it myself, but I think they need to hear it from a Cardassian. 

JADZIA 

Wait, you and Garak? 

BASHIR 

Ah, well, yes. 

JADZIA 

Oh, I KNEW it! Julian, I’m so happy for you! 

BASHIR 

Wait, what? What do you mean, you “knew” it? _I_ didn’t know it. 

JADZIA 

Oh, Julian. You didn’t know a lot of things. 

BASHIR 

_[slightly miffed]_

Thanks a lot. 

JADZIA 

But I have the feeling you know a lot more things, now. What were you thinking about while you were searching? I don’t think Cardassian child development is really what brought me around. 

BASHIR 

Well, no. I—I was thinking about Nog, actually. 

JADZIA 

Nog? 

BASHIR 

Yeah. Oh, Jadzia, you should have seen him—he became captain of his own ship, you know? Rom was so proud—but then Rom is Grand Nagus now, too, so that family seems to be nothing but gamechangers. 

JADZIA 

Are you serious? That’s wonderful! I bet Quark is just horrified all the way around. 

BASHIR 

Of course! But even he was hiding a few tears at Nog’s promotion ceremony. It was such a proud moment. 

_[_ _reflectively_ _]_

He died just over a year ago, Nog. The anniversary was recently and I guess I was thinking about him and—well, and all my absent friends. 

JADZIA 

_[gently, but teasingly]_

That certainly makes more sense than Cardassian child development. 

BASHIR 

_[clearing his throat]_

So, I guess, how’s Sto-Vo-Kor? 

JADZIA 

What makes you think I’m there? 

BASHIR 

_[shocked]_

We—but we—that is, Worf and Martok and Miles and I and even Quark—we blew up the Monac shipyards. To get you in. There was a whole battle with the Jem’Hadar and—are you saying it didn’t work?! 

JADZIA 

That would be telling, Julian. 

BASHIR 

Oh, so—you’re in? 

JADZIA 

Thank you for your heroism, Julian, especially on my behalf. 

BASHIR 

_[embarrassed]_

I mean, it was Worf’s plan, but you’re—well, you’re welcome. I did love you, Jadzia. I love you still. 

JADZIA 

I know. 

BASHIR 

But I also love Ezri—she’s the one who got Dax next. She’s brilliant; you’d like her. I love _her_ still, too, but—well, it’s all different kinds of love, I guess. 

JADZIA 

Of course it is, Julian! This is one of those things you didn’t know then, but you seem to have learned it. I’m proud of you. There are so many ways to love someone else, and none of them are more “real” or “true” than the others. They’re just different. 

BASHIR 

I really do miss you, Jadzia. 

JADZIA 

So you and Garak are a thing, and it sounds like you’re still working in medicine. How do you know so much about Cardassian child development? _[_ _gasps]_ Julian, do you have a little Cardassian in your life? 

BASHIR 

_[laughing]_

Well, they’re hardly little anymore. Garak and I adopted a pair of orphans after we’d been together a while: Turec and Risha. Turec is in his 20s now and training to follow after Garak in politics—Garak is positively horrified by this, he tells everyone, but secretly I think he loves having someone he can teach all about how to maneuver people. 

JADZIA 

Oh, I believe it! Julian, this is so wonderful; I remember how Dax loved being a father. But you said two? 

BASHIR 

Yes, two. The younger is Risha; she’s actually in Starfleet Academy, training to be a science officer—like you. 

JADZIA 

Does she know about me? 

BASHIR 

I may have told her a few stories. And she’s met Ezri a couple of times, and she’s asked me about a million questions about what being in the service means. 

JADZIA 

A Cardassian in Starfleet—a _Bashir_ Cardassian in Starfleet, no less. She’ll have quite some shoes to fill. 

BASHIR 

_[proudly]_

And she’ll fill them amply. Turec and Risha are very much their own people and they’re incredibly strong. They’re giving Garak and I a lot of hope for this generation—though Garak would never admit it outright, of course. 

JADZIA 

Of course. Fatherhood seems to suit you. 

BASHIR 

Well, it’s definitely not something I ever thought would happen. But…it feels right, and I do love them rather a lot. 

JADZIA 

As you should. 

BASHIR 

_[quietly]_

I’m so sorry you never got the chance to have a family, Jadzia. 

JADZIA 

Oh, Julian, still learning things—what makes you say I never had a family? Because Worf and I were never able to have children? But we had you, and the chief, and Benjamin and Kira and Odo and Quark and everyone else on the station. There are all different kinds of family. Be careful with a word like that—it can mean whatever you want it to mean, which is absolutely great. You should know that, after all. 

BASHIR 

_[suddenly realizing]_

Oh! _Benjamin!_

JADZIA 

What about him? Is he okay? 

BASHIR 

Um, I guess? He—well, he sort of became a god, at the end of the war. He doesn’t really exist on our plane anymore, though I hear he drops in from time to time. 

JADZIA 

_[amused]_

Did he now? Well done, Benjamin. 

BASHIR 

But maybe—maybe he’s the one who orchestrated this, who brought you here. 

JADZIA 

A literal _deus_ _ex_ _machina_? 

BASHIR 

Like you said, we’ve seen weirder things. 

JADZIA 

We have indeed. Well, if that’s the case: 

_[_ _C_ _alling offscreen]_

thank you, Benjamin! I appreciate being able to talk to my friend and hear about his lovely family. 

[ _T_ _urning back to BASHIR]_

I am very glad to see you, Julian. 

BASHIR 

And I you. I wish you—well, I wish… 

JADZIA 

So you were thinking of Nog? 

BASHIR 

Yeah. He’s a bit older than Turec and, when we were on the station, I never thought of him in any kind of fatherly way—the idea of being a father was pretty foreign, after all. But I was able to go to the funeral last year and I saw Rom and—well, I could sympathize, just a little. I can’t imagine losing Turec. And then it made me think about just how many loved ones we’ve lost. 

JADZIA 

Not lost, Julian. 

BASHIR 

_[placating]_

Right, because you live on in my memory. 

JADZIA 

No, because we lived at all. Do you know what I learned when I first joined with Dax? 

BASHIR 

Quite a few things, I’d imagine. 

JADZIA 

Yes, but one of the things that I really began to understand was that every single interaction changes the people involved. We are all affecting each other, all the time. Take you; you are not the same “you” that would have existed had you not met Garak, right? 

BASHIR 

Decidedly not. 

JADZIA 

But you’re also not the same “you” that you would have been if you hadn’t met me. I don’t just live in your memory, I live in your personality—in the fabric of who you’ve become. Nog, also, lives in the fabric of you. You were indelibly changed by us, and we were changed because of you. We’re not lost, Julian; we’re in every moment that you make a different decision than you could have because you knew us, because who you are is shaped by who we were with you. 

BASHIR 

All things considered, I’d prefer to have you than the fabric. 

JADZIA 

_[laughs]_

Well, I can understand that. But don’t you see? Because I’m alive in the fabric of you, now I’m alive in the fabric of Risha and her dreams of Starfleet. And I’m in Worf’s tolerance of others, however grudging. Nog is alive in the way Jake relates to aliens, and in Rom’s leadership of Fereginar. Even in the way Quark treats the people around him, however much he wouldn’t admit it. Do you remember when I asked you to host Torias during my _zhian’tara_? 

BASHIR 

I do indeed; very fond of snacking, he was. 

JADZIA 

It helped me see some of the things that I had picked up from previous hosts. You don’t have to have a symbiont to glean habits and stories and quirks from others. 

BASHIR 

Sounds a bit mystical. 

JADZIA 

It’s a mystical universe, Julian. 

BASHIR 

Says the science officer! 

JADZIA 

Says the joined Trill who married a Klingon on a Bajoran space station built by the Cardassians while surrounded by her human friends. Science helped me understand some things and measure them out and explain them, but not everything. Some things are just complicated. 

BASHIR 

You sound like Nerys. 

JADZIA 

Well, she wasn’t wrong. _[_ _pauses]_ We’re not lost, Julian. We’re just relocated. 

BASHIR 

Isn’t that actually the definition of lost? 

JADZIA 

Only if you don’t know where to look for the relocation. 

BASHIR 

Hmph. 

_[Po_ _nders a moment]_

Well, to _present_ friends, then. 

JADZIA 

May we suitably annoy you in the best moments possible. 

BASHIR 

I’d toast to that. 

JADZIA 

But you should probably get back to your research. 

BASHIR 

I wish you were here. I really do miss you. 

JADZIA 

As you should. 

_[JADZIA’S screen goes blank and BASHIR stares for a moment, thinking._ _He reaches out to the screen and pulls his hand back.]_

BASHIR 

Whether it was you or not, thank you—Captain. 

_FIN_


End file.
